Supplementary Setting Notes
Recently, many readers have felt that the power levels in this book are a bit inconsistent, Lao Bai 've made a simple summary. Everyone is welcome to discuss this together. I can take the time to revise anything that's genuinely problematic, but please set aside any points of contention for now.
1. Dao Foundation: Generally speaking, it is divided into four grades: purple, gold, ice, and green. Theoretically, the leaf grade is only related to the cultivator's future prospects (for example, Green Leaf can basically not form False Core, while Ice Leaf can aspire to Golden Core. However, nothing is absolute. The setting of this book is quite broad, so there will always be low-grade Dao Foundation cultivators who form Core Formation and Lower-Grade Golden Core Nascent Soul Formation).
It has nothing to do with combat power (if one wants to cultivate some advanced Cultivation Method later, the Dao Foundation Leaf level will be used as the threshold for cultivation).
The number of Ice Leaf Dao Foundation is very small; otherwise, Fei Nanying and Kuang Liuting, who have seen the world, would not have treated Daoist Black Shoes, a Golden Leaf Dao Foundation cultivator, with such special regard.
Therefore, Jiang Qing in Shannan Circuit can definitely be considered Ye Pinggao (a friend asked this in a previous message, so I'm replying here).
As for Kang Dabao's Jade Leaf Foundation Establishment, so far only the wondrous effect of extending lifespan by sixty years has been discovered; the rest remains unknown. As for how outsiders know about the Dao Foundation Leaf's grade, since it wasn't explicitly stated earlier, it's tentatively assumed that unless deliberately concealed, those of the same level can tell.
2. Spirit Root: Currently, there are Heaven, Single, Double, Triple, Mixed, and Pseudo-Six, etc. Moreover, in theory, except for False Spirit Root, the other Spirit Root should be fewer in number, each by an order of magnitude.
The greatest function of Spirit Root in this book is to differentiate the cultivation speed of cultivators. (I won't go into detail about cultivating various attribute Cultivation Method.) This is actually a very crucial function, but it has indeed been weakened by the Dao Foundation. Later, I may add a setting that different Spirit Root have different probabilities of Foundation Establishment, but I have only set the Heavenly Spirit Root as the one that guarantees Foundation Establishment. I have no ideas for the others yet, and it is highly unlikely that I will add them.
3. Combat strength: Generally speaking, the only things directly related to a cultivator's combat strength are cultivation level, Cultivation Method (such as the Three Yang Scripture), Law Treasure (Law Artifact, Spirit Artifact, Law Treasure), Daoist arts (including Swordsmanship and Body Refining Cultivation Method), and secret techniques (such as Second Liu's Blood-Burning Great Method and Kuai En's Long Breath Art).
The reason why Daoist Black Shoes was able to withstand a blow from Fei Nanying, a top-tier Foundation Establishment cultivator, while only at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage was because the former used his ultimate move (which could not be used repeatedly), while the latter only used his full strength (or 90% of his strength). The brief draw did not mean anything. At that First Tier, Fei Nanying could easily defeat Daoist Black Shoes without any problem; he simply cherished his talent.
However, the elders of Auspicious Brocade Gate that Daoist Black Shoes killed were just ordinary Green Leaf Foundation Establishment with mediocre Cultivation Method, so the former could kill them easily. (After all, Daoist Black Shoes at this time would be able to fight Song Two Instruments Sect of Song Xueqiao to a draw in a few years.)
As for the character of the Daoist Black Shoes, those who have read this far will know that Lao Bai has planted many foreshadowing elements. At this stage, his adventures are even more impressive than the protagonist's, which will be discussed later and will not be elaborated on here.
Kang Dabao has only been a Foundation Establishment for a few years. He has achieved his current level of spiritual power, almost equivalent to that of a typical late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, by combining the "Green Goat Pine Discourse Scripture" (a high-grade Vast-Tier Superior-Grade, considered above average even among Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator) with the Long Breath Art (rank unknown).
The Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes (This is a guaranteed Zhou Grade eye technique; even Golden Core Qi Refinement can't all master it to a minor level. Kang Dabao mastered it during his Qi Refining stage, which could be considered an early-game bug or a minor cheat. As his cultivation level increases, the power of this eye technique will also increase, especially after he finds the Moon Fern and masters it to a great level.)
The Primordial Ancient Body, the Insect Cloud, and a few other Spirit Artifact that are decent compared to others of the same level (these three were almost useless against opponents like those from Mountain-Viewing Cave), but against a late-stage Golden Core cultivator like Wu Cangyun, they are still quite effective, and not too bad at all. Objectively speaking, they are almost heaven-defying.
As for Jiang Qing, people might think he's faded into obscurity, and that's something Lao Bai didn't handle well.
Because he was already able to kill opponents of the same level after just Foundation Establishment, which is not easy for Foundation Establishment cultivator, but I didn't write out the exciting part.
Furthermore, since Kang Dabao's strength has significantly improved after reaching the Foundation Establishment, I felt it would be rather abrupt if Jiang Qing also made rapid progress. Therefore, I deliberately suppressed it, which may have reduced the book's enjoyment factor considerably. This is a writing issue.
4. Dungeon: Regarding the Mountain-Viewing Cave dungeon, I actually thought a lot before I started writing. I wanted to write a story that wasn't too cliché, but the layout wasn't well-structured. There were too many plot lines, and they were all intertwined, so it seemed too messy. This is my fault for not writing it well, so the data feedback wasn't good, and people didn't like it.
I've recently seen many comments from friends who feel there's too much combat and it's too watered down. This isn't Lao Bai intention at all; I've already planned out the direction after the dungeon ends. Actually, those of you who have read this far should be able to tell that Lao Bai 'm not very good at writing combat, so writing these days has been quite difficult (the fight between Chu Yanran and Yuan Feng outside the Moonlight Palace was probably my peak).
I misunderstood, so these next few days should be over as soon as possible, and we can return to dealing with interpersonal matters and the development of the sect.
5. Now that I've written this Lao Bai also feel that the setting of this book is a bit redundant. This setting is something I racked my brains to come up with, but it may be more suitable for the genius genre than the extraordinary genre, so some readers may feel a strong sense of disconnect. This is also where I, as the author, have fallen Lao Bai.
Having high aspirations but low abilities is a common mistake for writers like me who are at the bottom of the industry. I always thought I could write a different story. But now that I've been writing for a while, I realize that I've succeeded if I can write a story that is logically consistent and doesn't fall apart halfway through.
So thank you all for your understanding as readers. The problems are too deep to be fixed now, and I can't change them, so I'll just do my best to write the story well. Therefore, this story might be very long, and I don't know if everyone will be willing to continue reading.
Above
Thank you again everyone!
(PS: By the way, could those of you watching pirated content please support me a little? My data has been pretty bad lately, and I can't even get on the small recommendations anymore -_-||)